MR. LOCKHART: Following today's briefing we'll be instituting
new policy -- coming to the briefing will earn you frequent flyer miles
that can be use on any major airline. (Laughter.)

Q Even on Air Force One?

Q The charter?

MR. LOCKHART: There you go.

Q Do you promise to eliminate delays?

MR. LOCKHART: If I could figure out a way to eliminate DeLay,
I might think of it. Oh, you said "delays." Sorry, I can't do anything
about that. (Laughter.)

Questions? I've got no announcements for you.

Q Do we get double miles --

MR. LOCKHART: Anything for you, Mark.

Q Free ticket anywhere on the system?

MR. LOCKHART: Yes, you can go wherever we go, any time you
want. (Laughter.)

Q Are you going to go ahead and have the 3:00 p.m. event, or
is there any agreement --

MR. LOCKHART: There's no agreement that I know of. The
President is very much looking forward to having this event this
afternoon with a distinguished group of Nobel laureates and national
security officials and former national security officials.

Q Joe, Senator Daschle says that before the treaty went down
in defeat the President would prefer to have the vote delayed. Is that
or is that not the case?

MR. LOCKHART: I think we've made the case all along that we
thought that eight or nine days was inadequate for a real debate where
senators would have the chance to be briefed, to look at the issues, to
understand the complexity of the issues. We continue to believe that to
be the case. I think this upshot of last night's dinner here at the
White House with Republicans and Democrats was a general consensus that
this process is inadequate. But the process is the process and the
Senate has put it in place. The vote is set for next Tuesday, and we're
going to work as hard as we can between now and next Tuesday to get as
many votes as we can.

Q In retrospect, was it a mistake to accept this deal for a
vote on Tuesday?

MR. LOCKHART: I think, in retrospect, it was a mistake for
the party in the majority to move forward in a process that didn't do
justice to the importance of this serious and important issue. But as
far as how they are going to do their business, that's up to them to
talk about.

Q Joe, it's clearly your belief, or the White House's belief,
that given enough time a sufficient number of Republicans senators may
come around on the merits --

MR. LOCKHART: No --

Q Let me finish the question. If that's your belief, do you
think that their resistance to do what you think is the right thing on
this treaty now is another part of the legacy of bitterness from the
impeachment battle, that you simply cannot --

MR. LOCKHART: See, I think I tried to address this yesterday,
that if any senator in any party is using some personal resentment of
the President to thwart the national security interests of this country
going into the future, that raises serious questions about why they're
in public service and why they're in the Senate. I can't tell you that
that's the case. But if you keep asking me this every day, someone must
be telling you that. I can't speculate. And it's very disappointing
and unfortunate if that is, indeed, the case.

Q Joe, if you don't line up enough votes in the next five
days, will the President ask for the treaty to be withdrawn?

MR. LOCKHART: That question started with "if," so I'm not
answering it.

Q Joe, I don't understand what your actual position is here.
You're saying that there's not enough time for this to get a proper
hearing.

MR. LOCKHART: That's correct.

Q Which means that you believe that you need more time.

MR. LOCKHART: That's correct.

Q But the vote is scheduled for next Tuesday, so do you want a
vote on Tuesday or would you be happy if the Republicans were to delay
it?

MR. LOCKHART: We have indicated all the way through this
process over the last three or four days -- you can go back and look at
the transcript, you can look at what the President said, you can look at
what the National Security Advisor said -- that we don't think that the
process is adequate for a treaty of this importance and of this
complexity.

I can tell you that the senators have said to us privately
that they don't have enough time to do the normal -- watching the
hearings, getting the briefings in order to make a judgment. In the
absence of that, they feel that they would need to vote no because there
are unanswered questions for them. It's a process that, judging from
the group that came to the White House last night, that no one is happy
with.

But the process right now is the process and the leaders of
the Senate, the majority and the minority, are in discussions to talk
abut the process and we'll see where that goes.

Q Does that, then, suggest that if there isn't sufficient time
to educate people about the importance of the bill, why not just suggest
doing it again next year?

MR. LOCKHART: Listen, the Senate has to decide on the
calendar in the Senate. There are discussions going on which I'm not
going to prejudge or try to preview or critique. They are talking
amongst themselves. We believe the process is inadequate. I think
there's a bipartisan belief at this point that the process is inadequate
and we'll just have to see where they go.

Q Are you committed to arguing through and fighting through to
the vote on Tuesday with a vote taking place?

MR. LOCKHART: Without a change in the schedule, we're
committed to making the best case we can. We plan to do it. We've
already done it today, we'll do it again today, we'll do it tomorrow,
we'll do it the next day, we'll do it through the weekend, and we'll
take the vote and we'll get as many senators as we can.

Q Having a vote on Tuesday, if they don't delay --

MR. LOCKHART: The Senate sets their schedule. On the Senate
schedule right now is a vote next Tuesday. Unless you all know
something that I don't know, we're going to continue to move forward.
If they change the schedule, we will adjust accordingly.

Q Daschle said he doesn't think it should come up until there
are the votes to pass it. Is that what you're saying, or you just want
it to come up when you get the week-long of hearings that you --

MR. LOCKHART: No, I think it's our belief that once there is
a full and informative process, two-thirds of United States senators
will support ratification -- when there are hearings, when there are
briefings, when they've had a chance to look at the issues. All that
can't be done in eight days.

Q There are members of the arms control community who say that
you guys have had two years to make a public case for this. Clearly,
the other side got the no votes lined up; you could have done more to
get yes votes on that even before the week's worth of hearings --

MR. LOCKHART: Let me just say the President has talked about
this on numerous occasions about how high a priority it is. But I think
everyone in this room understands how arms control, the process of arms
control treaties work in this town. The Senate has a constitutional
responsibility on a two-thirds basis to approve treaties. With that
responsibility comes the further responsibility to look at the issues,
allow for public hearings, allow for members to be exposed to all of the
different facets of the arguments, allow their constituents the chance
to talk to the members about their views. That is a process that has
never before in history been done in nine days.

Now, we have made public statements, will continue to make
public statements -- you can go back and look at the record -- but the
process, historically, has always begun in earnest with the Senate
taking up their responsibility. In fact, what's happened is just the
opposite here. The Senate has proudly from the Foreign Relations
Committee boasted about how they would never do this. It was, we'll do
this over my dead body. That is not -- I don't think that is an
attitude that the people who wrote the Constitution were thinking of
when they gave the Senate this responsibility.

Q Are you saying the White House does not have the power, that
the rules do not allow for the White House to ask the Congress to
withdraw the treaty --

MR. LOCKHART: The sole power for scheduling a vote rests with
the leadership in both parties.

Q For scheduling the day. I'm saying, does the White House
have the right to ask that it be withdrawn?

MR. LOCKHART: I have no idea.

Q Does the President intend to give any signal, public or
private, that he would rather have a delay than a defeat?

MR. LOCKHART: Listen, let me try to be even clearer than I
have been this morning and just before this. I have made it exquisitely
and excruciatingly clear that the President believes this process is
inadequate. And I think the President, for his part, has made it clear
how important this issue is for the future of this country. Now, the
majority and minority are discussing ways or looking at the process to
see if they believe it's adequate, but if they cannot reach an agreement
and they believe that -- if Senator Lott believes this is an adequate
process, that this is a proper way for the Senate to deal with this,
then we'll move forward and have the vote.

Q Would the President be opposed to what Lott was talking
about last night, which would be he would agree to bring it up again in
the next Congress, with a new President, but not next year?

MR. LOCKHART: This is a treaty that has great importance for
the future security of this country. No one can in any way predict what
happens in the next 16 months. We ought to find a process that allows
for senators to be fully informed and briefed, make an informed and
intelligent decision on this -- whether it's positive or negative. And
it shouldn't become hostage to any partisan maneuvering or the political
calendar that may face us.

Q And it should take place during this administration?

MR. LOCKHART: Well, I think to argue that it should take
place in the next administration is an argument that is subject to the
political calendar, not the national interests of this country.

Q What kind of postponement would the President agree to?

MR. LOCKHART: I don't know. I think that, traditionally,
you've seen -- I think I read a long list to you the other day, which
I'll spare you, but committees have taken weeks and weeks and weeks to
look at this and the Senate floor has been one or two weeks of debate.
So I'm not --

Q If they were to schedule a vote several weeks from now, the
President --

MR. LOCKHART: Listen, the one thing that I certainly don't
have any control over is what they do in the Senate schedule. There are
conversations going on there; I'd suggest if you want more information
on that you can go up to the Senate and talk to them.

Q Joe, the ramifications of the defeat of this treaty has been
talked about at some length. Is the President concerned enough about
those ramifications that he would disavow ownership of this treaty to
allow the next Congress and the next administration to pass it through?

MR. LOCKHART: I think that's a false and political choice.

Q Some people in the nonproliferation community have suggested
that a delay might actually help the treaty's chances, specifically if
India and Pakistan were able to sign on in the interim. How does that
reasoning --

MR. LOCKHART: I think that there's no one in the arms control
community, there's no one here at the White House, there doesn't seem to
be anyone in the Senate who believes that we ought to go forward with a
process that's inadequate; but here we are.

Q Joe, Warner came out this morning --

Q Sorry, could I get an answer on the India-Pakistan thing?
Is that an ultimate goal of --

MR. LOCKHART: We've had positive statements there and I think
you'll see that there have been some mixed statements in the last couple
days. The world is watching. The world looks to the United States for
leadership. They want to know that we're going to stand up and take a
stand against testing. And I think it's hard to expect or to condition
our decisions based on what others would do. That's not how the United
States leads in the world. We lead, we don't follow.

Q Joe, you say you want hearings and more consideration and
that would take some time. There's not a lot of time this year. Could
you just at least give us what you would like, what the best scenario
would be for when a vote could be?

MR. LOCKHART: Listen, we want what senators want, which is
adequate time to do this process correctly. I think if they want to sit
down and talk about what that is, we're glad to do that. But right now,
the majority and minority leaders are talking and when they've got
something to say, they'll say it.

Q Joe, isn't this, though, extraordinary brinkmanship? I
mean, the White House is arguing that the ramifications of defeat would
be enormous. If, in fact, it's clear it's going down in defeat, doesn't
the President have the responsibility to try to withdraw this treaty or
delay the vote?

MR. LOCKHART: You are giving on to us authority that we don't
have. The Senate leaders are talking about this, they will continue
talking about this. And I'm not going to do a running commentary based
on every meeting.

Q Joe, Henry Kissinger, Brent Scowcroft and John Deutch wrote
an op-ed piece this morning, in which they say a lot of things, but one
thing they said was that that were no fans of the treaty. Doesn't that
undermine a bit the argument that you've been putting forth all week,
that basically on the facts of the treaty it's pretty much a no-brainer
that you should support it? I mean, these are --

MR. LOCKHART: You know, I think -- I've certainly said that
there are some who dissent, but the vast majority of those people in
this field support this overwhelmingly. And you'll see that at the
event today. And, frankly, the argument put forward by some that we
should continue the moratorium on testing, but we shouldn't do anything
to constrain others, boggles the mind in its naiveness. That somehow we
-- accepting the idea that it's okay for China, Russia, Iran, others,
India, Pakistan, to go ahead and test and modernize their nuclear
arsenal while we don't just makes no sense.

Q Senator Warner said that after the closed-door briefing he
was quite disturbed and that he would like to see a study take place,
report back to the Armed Services Committee before the end of the year
on the ability to monitor. He says he's more concerned, beyond what's
been reported publicly about the CIA and low yield --

MR. LOCKHART: John, that's fine. And I believe Senator
Warner is putting that forward in good faith and it's the kind of proper
question you should ask. It's one of the reasons why two years ago they
should have taken this up. And it's one of the reason why in eight days
you can't conclude this process. That is a legitimate question. That
is a question that deserves an answer and, frankly, I don't know that
anyone can give the Senator an answer on that question in eight days.

But it's why you can't expect a United States senator to make
a decision of this import based on a week. It's like asking someone to
critique "War and Peace" by reading the book cover synopsis. It's just
not the way we do things.

Q So if it did require a report coming back by the end of the
year -- that would obviously mean you couldn't have a vote this year --
you would have no objection, then, if it had to slide over so that
people could study it further?

MR. LOCKHART: If senators, in their wisdom, believe they need
more time, they need more months to look at this, then we will certainly
be open to looking at their concerns and looking at what the schedule
is. Again, they have the power in the Senate to set the schedule to
bring this on the floor on a day that they agree. I think that there is
a consensus among senators, whether they be Republicans or Democrats,
supporters or opponents, that the process here is inadequate, and they
are having discussions about how to deal with that situation.

Q Joe, one of the other things that Henry Kissinger and Deutch
said today in the op-ed piece is that they don't think any harm would be
done by waiting until the next administration. I mean, it's a little
over a year. You could get more information about how it would work and
see if other people would sign it -- I mean, what would be so bad about
that?

MR. LOCKHART: Let me respond to what would be so bad. I
stood here sometime ago, many months ago, and answered questions about
whether we thought we were going into an uncontrollable, escalating arms
conflict between India and Pakistan because they tested. I can't stand
here and predict that there's an 18-month grace period between now and
January, 2001 while we take no action. I don't know that anyone can
make that prediction. We ought to do this as quickly and as properly as
we can.

Q Right, but -- I understand if we defeated the treaty why
your argument is that could spark a new arms race, but what if it was
just delayed?

MR. LOCKHART: Again --

Q -- effects are the same?

MR. LOCKHART: The effects are the same. We have not moved
the process forward. We have sent a message around the world that the
U.S. is not going to exercise leadership on testing and, in effect,
there is a green light that's been put up.

Q But if the President, himself, ends up agreeing to a delay,
are you saying the delay itself is a green light for more testing?

MR. LOCKHART: No, I think if we do this in a way that gives
senators the amount of time, and not artificially decide, well, let's
wait until after the next election, I don't know that that sends the
same message.

Q Joe, you've made clear today that a vote on Tuesday is not
in the interest of the treaty and it's not what the White House wants.
Senator Lott made clear yesterday that if the President asked that the
bill be pulled, he would do so. I'm adding one and one, but I'm not
getting two. Why not simply do that?

MR. LOCKHART: Again, Senator Lott and Senator Daschle are
engaged in discussions and we ought to let them have their discussions
and come to a view.

Q Are they talking weeks, months?

MR. LOCKHART: I would suggest you ask them what they're
talking about.

Q One of the things Republicans are talking about today and a
little bit yesterday is things that have been said by Al Gore and Bill
Cohen when they were both in the Senate -- one, that Al Gore objected to
the '89 defense bill because it limited tests to one kiloton, not zero,
saying that it was unverifiable; and that Colin Powell also said as long
as we have nuclear weapons, we have to conduct testing. Do you know
that Colin Powell, Bill Cohen and Al Gore have changed their views since
those --

MR. LOCKHART: I know that Bill Cohen was up on the Hill today
testifying in support of this treaty. I know that the Vice President
supports this treaty, and my understanding is the former National
Security Advisor and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs supports this treaty.

Q Is the President planning any secondary action on Ronnie
White?

MR. LOCKHART: Let me say one more thing on that. There's a
difference between where we were in 1989 and where we are now. We have
the technological ability to not need testing. We have a locked-in
advantage on the rest of the world.

So the question is, are we going to lock in that advantage and
secure it for the next generation, or are we going to keep the
development of nuclear arsenals something that's wide open, that
countries that we have concern about their nuclear arsenals -- so that
they can test and close that advantage?

Q New topic?

MR. LOCKHART: Yes.

Q Any back-up action on Ronnie White? Recess appointment?

MR. LOCKHART: I have no information about where we'll go,
beyond trying to elicit some straightforward statement from the Senate
about what they're doing. I mean, here's a guy who was nominated, is a
distinguished judge, the first African American judge on the State
Supreme Court in Missouri, who had the support of Republicans in the
Committee -- Senator Hatch, Senator Specter -- was recommended to the
Judiciary Committee by Senator Bond; who all of a sudden when the
Republicans got a judge they want or it was time to play more games on
judicial nominations, three Republicans decided all of a sudden they had
had a last-minute change of heart and they were going to vote him down
on a straight partisan vote.

I think as the President said, it's disgraceful. There are
studies out there that show it's harder, women and minorities wait
longer, it's harder for them to get through. We have nominees who have
been waiting now for almost four years for a vote. So I think the
Senate Republicans have a responsibility to explain why they have been
unable to meet their responsibilities under the Constitution and their
advice and consent.

Q Joe, both in what you just said and what the President said
earlier today, which I believe was that the Republican-controlled Senate
is adding to the perception they treat minorities unfairly, comes very
close to suggesting that Republicans are racist.

MR. LOCKHART: No, I think the numbers are there, and the days
and those numbers speak for themselves. If you're a woman, if you're a
minority, it takes an average of 60 extra days to get your confirmation
done; if you're a minority, it's 65 days.

There was no -- the idea that a distinguished jurist, the
first African American to serve on the State Supreme Court, would go
through this process and be voted down and the Republicans' response
was, we never even knew what his race was -- it's hard to believe.

Q Is the President considering a recess appointment to at
least let him serve at the end of the term?

MR. LOCKHART: We don't get into what we're considering or not
considering on recess appointments.

Q Joe, calling people racist essentially is a pretty serious
charge. Don't you think you should have specific evidence that race
played a factor in this before you start --

MR. LOCKHART: First of all, I didn't call anyone that.

Q But it's pretty close to it. It's basically --

MR. LOCKHART: You can decide what's pretty close and I'll
decide what's pretty close, and I haven't said it. I have used evidence
here, compiled by an independent group, of how it's more difficult as
far as statistical evidence -- that's what most evidence is -- on how
it's more difficult. And I think it's incumbent upon members,
particularly members who change their vote, to explain what was at the
root of that change because it's certainly not this silly argument that
somehow, this judge is pro-criminal. Go talk to his colleagues back --
and see if they believe that.

Q Joe, on the patients' bill of rights, both the President and
your statement earlier this morning fell short of a veto pledge against
the Coburn-Shadegg alternative. Would he veto that bill if that's --

MR. LOCKHART: I think the most likely outcome since the rule
just passed is that nothing's ever going to get here, that the
Republican leadership and the insurance lobbies got what they wanted.
They went, they sat down over bacon and eggs and they hatched a plan to
make sure that the majority of Americans were thwarted in their belief
that they should have more rights in dealing with their HMOs.

This bill adds poison pills, it completely eliminates the
ability to put the pay-fors on, and I think has doomed all of these
pieces of legislation.

Q That breakfast that you mentioned, one of the leaders of the
coalition that favors the Dingell-Coburn bill was present, and there
were plenty of people who supported it, and it was a fairly small group.
Why are you so convinced that this was some sort of right-wing cabal to
--

MR. LOCKHART: Well, I didn't say a right-wing cabal. I know
who was there, and I also know that yesterday they were working on the
rule. And by the end of the day, the rule was one that guarantees that
an up or down vote on a patients' bill of rights is not going to happen
in this Congress.

Q If I could follow up, if that bill were to reach the
President's desk, would he veto it? I mean, it does have some
protections in it.

MR. LOCKHART: It does have some protections; they don't go
far enough, they don't have adequate enforcement. The President
supports Norwood-Dingell. The Republican majority -- we all know they
have the power to thwart the will of the American people. The time has
come to see if they actually are interested in enacting the will of the
American people.

Q If you get Norwood-Dingell, if you like that so much, why
wouldn't you negotiate on some of these access provisions? Some of them
you don't like, like MSAs, but there are others that would be --

MR. LOCKHART: If they want to negotiate on some of the access
issues and they can send up a separate bill and there are things in
there we can support, clearly we're not going to support MSAs because of
the way we think they'll segregate the insurance market. We've talked
about that at length over the last two years. They know that. That's
why it's there.

Q Joe, are you suggesting that the Speaker of the House was
bought off at yesterday morning's breakfast?

MR. LOCKHART: I'm suggesting that it was probably a pretty
productive meeting.

Q Could I just ask one more on what you just said? So you
would negotiate some of the access provisions, but only if it was sent
separately?

MR. LOCKHART: If they want to do real work on access to
health insurance in this country, which is clearly an issue the
President's been concerned about since the day he came here, we look
forward to working with him. There are clearly things that we've talked
about that we could not support. But they ought to do that in a
separate bill and they shouldn't load it up, because right now, what it
is is a poison pill.

Q Joe, the President was pretty harsh today in his criticism
of House and Senate Republicans on judges, patients' bill of rights and
the treaty, he vetoed their tax bill. How bad is the relationship
between the White House and Congress right now? Don't his remarks today
poison the atmosphere even more?

MR. LOCKHART: I think the remarks today indicate that the
President is upset, particularly on the issue of the judges and on
patients' bill of rights, because here is a situation where on patients'
bill of rights there is a clear majority for a piece of legislation and
the country wants this to happen. And just like guns, just like
campaign finance, the will of the House is thwarted through a procedural
technique.

And there's no doubt that the Republican leadership have the
sleight of hand available to them to get this done. But it becomes
frustrating, I think, for people watching to understand why this has to
continue to happen on issues that there is such strong support from the
American public.

Q Is that what it was today, that the President's frustration
boiled over on all --

MR. LOCKHART: No. I think the President made points on each
of these issues and was quite clear that Congress should change the way
they're doing these issues. I think there's a lot of other work that
we're doing. We're going to continue doing it. We're going to get a
budget -- or we're going to get the appropriations bills done at some
point. We're going to continue working on Medicare and Social Security.
And, for one, I know the President is certainly able to put aside
differences and work with Democrats and Republicans alike on the Hill.

Q Joe, on the candidates the President puts forth for judicial
nominations, it's not a random cross-section of the population. Is it
possible that the minorities that he selects are more liberal overall
than the general --

MR. LOCKHART: No, I think -- really, the only way to judge
that is to look at what the ABA -- because as part of the process, the
ABA looks at these and recommends them. This administration's judges
have had the highest ratings from the ABA in the last 40 years. So at
least the experts, the people who judge these jurists on their
qualifications, believe that this President has done a better job than
any President in 40 years.

Q But their politics also sometimes get them into trouble on
the Hill. Isn't it possible that they may be more liberal and that's
why they run into more trouble?

MR. LOCKHART: Well, what example do you have? I mean, I'm
glad to discuss any judge that we've nominated.

Q Well, I'm just saying across the board, is that a
possibility or not a possibility?

MR. LOCKHART: I think we've put forward highly qualified
judges. This is not an agenda or political agenda based appointments.
I think if you go to the ABA they'll tell you that that's their view.
And if there are any issues or any questions, we're glad to take them
and we're glad to debate them; rather than having what happened on the
Senate floor yesterday, where a fine judge's record is terribly
distorted for partisan political reasons.

Q Joe, did the White House make any effort to intervene or
contact senators when it saw that the tide was turning, despite what
happened in the committee?

MR. LOCKHART: Well, I think we've got some talented people
here at the White House. But to expect Senator Bond, Senator Hatch,
Senator Specter, who voted for or recommended this gentleman, to switch
is a pretty tough trick. I think you can generally count on someone
when they vote in committee or they bring the candidate and recommend
them to the committee that they'll support them. Or when they tell the
NAACP, this is my candidate, I'm going to vote for him -- that you can
count on that.

So I don't think that -- it does not appear to me there could
have been anything we had done once the Republican majority made up
their mind that this was going to be a party-line vote.

Q It was a surprise to the White House?

MR. LOCKHART: Certainly a surprise that three Republicans
switched their votes, yes.

Q Joe, why is the President meeting tomorrow with James Hoffa,
and would presidential politics be involved?

MR. LOCKHART: Mr. Hoffa is the elected leader of the
Teamsters, which is a large labor union. The President looks forward
and enjoys meeting with union leaders around the country. We've been
trying for some time now to set up this meeting. It just happened they
were both in New York tomorrow night and it was good for both schedules
to set it up for tomorrow night.

Q No presidential politics involved?

MR. LOCKHART: We've been trying to set this meeting up now
for a couple of months. We talk to union leaders on a wide range of
issues that affect their members. Politics may come up; may not.

Q Well, is it true that the President's going to be asking him
to stop blocking an endorsement of Al Gore?

MR. LOCKHART: I'll let you know if he does.

Q Hey, Joe, there was a newspaper today that suggested that in
taking shots at the leadership, the President has been helped in the
past week by George W. Bush. What about his remarks about the
congressional leadership? Has the President been heartened by that?
(Laughter.)

MR. LOCKHART: I think the President addressed that last
weekend. He said, you know, whenever someone comes along and accepts
the view we've been espousing for a long time, those conversions are
welcome.

Q Joe, the Teamsters are interested in getting rid of the
federal supervision of their union. What's the President's feeling on
that? Senator Bradley has indicated that he thinks it should be
relaxed.

MR. LOCKHART: Well, I don't know that the President has taken
a view. This is something that I think is done at the Justice
Department. I do know that the President has no intention of raising
that subject -- and I see, through Mr. Hoffa's spokesman, that neither
does Mr. Hoffa -- at tomorrow's meeting.

Q What about the new rules that would allow Mexican trucks
pretty much free transit around the United States -- which is going into
effect in January, I believe -- which the Teamsters have great
reservations about. Does the President still believe that that date is
the proper date to --

MR. LOCKHART: I'm not aware of any change.

Q Joe, on the extenders package, apparently the Finance
members this morning have agreed to scale back their $70 billion package
to something that's more 1-2 years and, apparently, fully paid for. And
I just wondered what the White House reaction is.

MR. LOCKHART: Well, I think if they've moved in the direction
of putting forward extenders that are paid for, we've got a very
constructive basis to move the discussions forward. And I think we've
made clear from the beginning that it's important in -- whether it's a
very large tax bill or a small tax bill, you talk about how you're going
to pay for it. And if that's the case, that's a positive development.